Not sure how that works.

Someone in the USA purchase (probably via proxy) a HLD-X0 here for JPY 171,600 (about $1,500) on Jan 29th. Sold via a shop that seems to offer online listing/description services (they have to charge 10% VAT as a business), so not really sure they know what they are selling here.

The X0 is clearly still in Japan so this eBay auctions pop-ups with the SAME pictures (didn't even bother to clean it up) at $3,900.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125129056749

Japanese items:


eBay:


I guarantee you it hasn't been tested for Hi-Vision... or maybe tested more than power on/open/close/power off.

Or maybe...


Maybe he flipping seller is HOPING player doesn't work or does get damage in the transport so he/she can claim the full amount from the insurance?

Julien

I seen this one too, and when the ebay auction first showed up it's location was Farmington Hills. If you look at their other auctions (which have nice players) it says their location is also Farmington Hills, MI. This is somewhat local for me so I sent an ebay message to see if they offer local pickup.

edit: The seller is in fact in east Michigan, Brother is in Japan shipping them over for the seller......

Is this Ecotopia by any chance? That’s the only place I can think of around here that would bother with that sort of thing but usually he’s not the kind of guy who would list a player as perfectly functional when he hasn’t even seen it yet. That’s pretty crap behavior, and a gamble at that.

I don't believe its Ecotopia. Your right he is usually completely upfront with products and checks them extensively. I've only been there a few times, it's been awhile though, but the sheer amount of stuff the last time I was there was insane. I messaged the guy back on ebay to see if they are just selling these or actually enjoy laserdiscs. Haven't heard back yet.

I’m wondering if its drewmanfu0, the member that up till recently had the rare Hitachi (Pioneer clone) Muse decoder for sale?

Good for him if he can get it, this is the business of selling stuff, some of you think this is not right.

I remember back when buy it now started on ebay people would list it in 20 minutes after buying it and they didn't even have it in their hands yet.
And we are talking about 1-2 grand toys then, now would be 10-20 grand.

You guys need to get with the program, that is THE king of LD repair, if he's selling it you can bet it's top notch.

Without ever touching it? By imposing hands from US over to Japan?

That's some next level repair skills!

Julien

So why is this a problem that this seller can't make a profit?????

It's just that it's going straight from Japan to the next buyer without him ever touching/testing it.

That opens the door to a lot of potential troubles for the final buyer.
These heavy babies don't travel well and if it was unused for a while (given the overall condition on the original pics) it's prone to replay issue when delivered.

Our friend dune3888 did give it a try and now ends up with a $500 dead X0 for parts.

That's why I was wondering if it was a game to get the insurance to pay in the end.
Buyer gets refunded for a broken player, insurance pays him back.

The section about "however the shipping companies are NOTORIOUS for damaging things. If in the event damage does occur during shipment I ask for your assistance in filing a claim with the carrier. This may involve taking pictures and saving the original packing materials for inspection." is quite unusual.

If he's just keeping it unpacked from a Japan -> Japan delivery, I'm positive it won't easily survive a Japan -> World trip.

Fingers crossed to whoever bought it after making an offer.

Julien

Well he's responsible for it getting delivered safely and has to deal with it if it's not and he is beyond trustworthy and well equipped to complete any repairs.

The king of LD repair lives a half hour away from me and I've never heard of him?

Some people have more to do then live on a forum.

I have been around lddb since 2004. Can't remember my original username and I don't think I ever posted. You should probably get out more. Lol

Get out to where? The local LD hangouts?!?

Do you have an ice cream van that you drive around in that says “Laserdisc repair” on it that I would have seen if I had gotten out more? Are you at library every week for club meetings?

My only point is there is a whole new world of LD people out there pushing the boundaries of repair and modern system integration but a lot of people aren't following along for whatever reason (don't like FB???). These guys go way beyond minor repairs, they are full on board level technicians that can diagnose and repair faults most never dreamed possible (rebuilding "dead" lasers for example). To me this should be interesting for LD collectors who would like their equipment to work for the long haul.....

If I wanted to buy an X0 you can bet damn well it would be from the person that can repair any fault with it (even if it was at a markup over the Yahoo Japan price). Same person that got me a perfectly calibrated HIL-C1 and MDP-999 (you want to see complicated look inside one of those) sold this X0.

100%.

Great to hear about new innovations though for obsolete systems and media. The guys behind the Domesday Deduplicator / LD Decode and the guy making his own M Holders are great examples. Or in gaming, the guy behind the Everdrive and it's numerous variants. Just a few examples.

Best of luck to them. Keep innovating.

I second teddanson. I’m just not a social media kind of person and prefer my privacy.

However, I would love to follow along with these innovators. Is there a reason they aren’t publishing their work on lddb? This community is pretty big as well (at least to me).

I have nothing against a fair markup for extra service.

But I don't see how the timeline works here where the X0 is resold as-is directly, unseen/untouched/untested from Japan.
Where is the added value?

Am I missing something?
Pioneer won't service it anymore the way Nicolas Santini used to pre-service his players.

So how does that work exactly? (back to my original first message and honest question)

Julien

If “getting out more” is just code for Facebook then I’ll stay indoors, I guess. It’s not like I didn’t use FB long enough to determine it was satanic, I sure did, and I quit and I haven’t looked back. That burning garbage avalanche is so horrible and it’s effects so far reaching that it’s gone way beyond simple privacy concerns. I refuse to be a part of it at all.

No, I don't like FB (please quote your sources) and dropped the idea of running the discussions for LDDb on it and started the phpBB3 forum instead.

FB had numerous issues in searching, retention, privacy, etc. The quickly disappearing wall posting system is not working for information you want static and easier to find. (could you really find posts from 10 years ago in a FB group? Disclord posts would have probably all been deleted, etc.) Plus I didn't want to force anyone to have to open an unrelated FB account for something as trivial as LD discussions.

As little as "LDDb on Facebook" is, FB keeps bombarding me with offers (most of the time paying) to "engage", "reach out", "touch" people, "promote my products", "increase my exposure", etc. almost daily. It's really annoying.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/02/07/1458211/mark-zuckerberg-and-team-considering-shutting-down-facebook-and-instagram-in-europe-if-meta-cannot-process-europeans-data-on-us-servers

EU is threatening META with thermonuclear fines if they keep tracking users and sending data back to the USA.
META is threatening to pull FB and IG from Europe... I kind of see it as a solution

Note that Google isn't better, META and Google share date about you all the time so that something discussed on WhatsApp will show up in ads on YouTube. It happened several times to me before.

Yet: Google Denies Facebook Ad Collusion In Motion to Dismiss States' Antitrust Suit

Julien